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I'm a 65-year old father of three and grandfather of six with opinions on nearly everything. I believe in courtesy, common sense, and fair play. I love ballroom dancing, reading, gourmet cooking, and travel. While I'm opinionated, I'm not close-minded, and I welcome your constructive comments on my blog. My motto: "I have seen the truth, and it makes no sense."

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Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Not Your President? Not So Fast.

At the end of a nasty, bitter, uncivil, and fact-challenged election, Donald Trump emerged victorious as our next president. He did not win the popular vote, although some on the right claim he did, but he clearly won the Constitutionally-prescribed process by which he amassed the commanding number of votes in the Electoral College. For good or for ill, the results of the popular vote are not legally or Constitutionally relevant.

Many people, myself included, strongly opposed Donald Trump for a variety of reasons. We weren't thrilled with Hillary Clinton as a candidate, but in an election in which most of us voted while holding our noses, she seemed to me to be the better of two unfortunate candidates.

Now that the election is over, demonstrations - indeed, riots - have broken out in various cities across the country as people who are horrified at the thought of a Trump presidency turn out with chants of "Not My President."

Well, folks, you're wrong.

Donald Trump is your president. You may not like him, but he won the election in full compliance with the Constitution. I agree that Mr Trump doesn't appear to understand the Constitution* and the responsibilities, limitations, and freedoms it prescribes, but nevertheless, he's the president-elect. The time has come to suck up our disappointment and, as President Obama reminded us, do everything we can to help make Donald Trump a successful president. This doesn't mean failing to strongly (and within the constitutional process) object to his policies** that are misguided. It does mean that we should give him the benefit of the doubt and hear him out.

Donald Trump is one of the most distasteful persons ever elected to the presidency. He advocated some things I could support, but many others I couldn't. He ran a campaign based on lies***, hatred, and fear-mongering, and I personally believe that he will be a disastrous president. But he's now my president-elect, and yours, too.

Let's calm down and help him where we can, and oppose him where we must.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* And I don't mean that he doesn't know how many articles there are in the Constitution. Hell, I don't think I could have told you that, either. I mean that he has, throughout the campaign, advocated measures that are blatantly unconstitutional and unamerican.** To the extent he has any.*** And please don't try to equate the huge number of pants-on-fire howlers Mr Trump refused to walk back, even when PROVEN to be wrong, with those told by Secretary Clinton. All politicians have at most a nodding acquaintance with the truth ... Mr Trump wouldn't recognize it if it bit him on the backside.

I think you have to recognize different shades of argument here. If you say that we must accept that DJT will hold the office of president, loathsome a prospect as that may be, yes, we must accept that. We must abide by policies and official actions he effectuates in that role.

But if you claim that we should mute our opposition and cooperate because the people chose him, as though opposing the president is somehow defying the principles of democratic government, no we don't, because they didn't. He won enough states by narrow margins to technically qualify for the job, but he lacks the kind of moral authority a clear plurality would have given him.

And when people say we have an obligation to give him a chance, that ship sailed when he appointed a white nationalist spouse abusing hatemonger his "Chief Strategist" and put a prominent climate change denier in charge of the EPA transition. You don't support the pilot when the nose of the plane points toward the ground. I am not going to "give him a chance" when every sindication is that he intends to destroy much of the progress made in the past seventy-five years and embrace policies which will harm the country for generations to come.